The Sign of a Healthy Restaurant

{ technology }
“The Sign
of a Healthy
Restaurant”
BEVERAGE MANAGEMENT SYSTEM
BINWISE DELIVERS THE GOODS FOR
CARLIN KARR, WINE DIRECTOR OF
FRASCA FOOD AND WINE IN BOULDER
Explore Carlin Karr’s extraordinary Frasca winelist at www.
frascafoodandwine.com.
FRASCA FOOD AND WINE IN BOULDER, CO, IS A MECCA
for budding somms, drawing talent from all over the country eager
to be mentored by its wine-passionate owner, Master Sommelier
Bobby Stuckey. Carlin Karr met Stuckey while she was working
as GM and Wine Director at Michelin-starred Sons & Daughters
in San Francisco. When she heard that Frasca was in search of an
Assistant Wine Director, she hopped a plane and interviewed.
As Stuckey recalls, “She was the first and only interviewee I saw.”
Today, four years later, Karr is Beverage Director for the entire
Frasca group, which includes the original restaurant, the more
casual Pizzeria Locale and a new restaurant in Denver, Tavernetta
by Frasca, scheduled to open early next year. Karr passed the
Advanced Sommelier exam from the Court of Master Sommeliers
on her first try and will be taking the Master Sommelier exam
later this year.
When she arrived at Frasca, Karr recalls, “Our inventory was
a nightmare and it never felt fully accurate. It took days and days
to figure it out.” Fortunately, Karr had also met Tony Cha in San
Francisco. Grant Gilligan and Cha, a former sommelier, founded
beverage management system BinWise while working in some of
the best restaurants in San Francisco. Karr recalls, “When I got to
Frasca I thought, We really need BinWise.”
Moving from outdated Excel spreadsheets to cutting-edge
BinWise, Karr, along with Sommelier Matt Mather, eventually
developed a $125,000 wine inventory to one valued at $500,000
today. “When I started it took four days to dial in everything; now
it just takes a few hours,” attests Karr.
“The inventory is just one piece of what makes BinWise so
great for us,” continues Karr, who particularly likes the BinWise
“Recipe” function. “You can enter the recipe for a cocktail and
BinWise synchs with your POS system, keeping track of everything. You can dial in your cost of goods so well. It’s made a great
difference for us.” The assistance of managing overhead and the
dialing in of costs offered by the BinWise platform is valuable
even with a smaller program like a pizzeria, “which is why we also
use BinWise at Pizzeria Locale,” says Karr.
Charged with training, Karr also sets up all of the restaurants
beverage staff with BinWise accounts, noting that the system’s
online tutorials and training are “very accessible and user-friendly;
everyone gets up to speed right away, which from my point of
view is ideal.”
Since implementing BinWise, Karr and entire the professional
Frasca beverage team—currently eight staffers are preparing
for the Court of Master Sommeliers Advanced level exam and
Stuckey himself does wine service every night—have never
looked back. “Bobby is a huge fan,” relays Karr. “There’s no question that controlling cost of goods is the sign of a healthy restaurant. At our new restaurant in Denver we’ve already decided on
using BinWise.”
To find out more about the BinWise platform and other industry
news: home.binwise.com/blog/
16 { THE SOMM JOURNAL } AUGUST/SEPTEMBER 2016
Somm Journal Aug/Sept_1-31.indd 16
7/27/16 2:51 PM